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Amazon vs. Walmart: Who's Really Cheaper During COVID-19?

With grocery pickup, grocery delivery, and online shopping taking the place of conventional in-store grocery shopping, the question of which store is cheapest — Amazon or Walmart — is more relevant than ever.

Access to Amazon Prime ain’t cheap — it’s now $129 a year or $12.99 a month for a membership. That Amazon Prime account will give you access to programs like Subscribe & Save (which saves you 5% on each recurring order) and Prime Pantry (free delivery on orders over $35), which can save you money in the long run if you’re a heavy Amazon user. But Walmart now offers competitive free two-day shipping for orders over $35 — plus, at Walmart you can have your groceries delivered right to your car.

So, we decided to compare a sample of Amazon’s prices (not factoring in the Prime membership fee) with Walmart’s everyday low prices.

The verdict? Walmart — but not for every category.

With everything in flux, grocery store prices are inflated, subject to constant change, and inventory is dicey. While that’s true for many businesses right now, it’s especially true for Amazon, whose prices and inventory on everyday items that you’d get at a grocery store are volatile/unpredictable at best. But of course, that’s not true across the board, as each store outperformed one another depending on category and product.

Read on for the goods on where to find the cheapest prices on makeup, baby supplies, toys, pet supplies, grocery and pantry items, cleaning supplies, medicine and personal care.

Amazon vs. Walmart: Who Has Cheaper Household and Cleaning Supplies?

Walmart is the winner in this category. In the age of coronavirus, Amazon is NOT where you want to be shopping for cleaning products, because their pricing doesn’t make much sense. If you can find stuff in stock, it will likely be overpriced or you have to buy in bulk. Occasionally, as I found below, you can get an item priced way below MSRP, but you have to dig around. Walmart, on the other hand, seems to be doing alright in terms of fair and consistent pricing. With the exception of toilet paper, of course.

Is Amazon or Walmart Better for Buying Toys?

Amazon easily wins this category, but the battle is fierce. It seems like these two retail giants keep close tabs on each other, adjusting prices immediately when tipped off to a sale on the other’s site. Toys are usually as cheap (or cheaper) on Amazon, although in some cases the cost of a toy might be exponentially higher on Amazon — it all depends on the model and newness of an item. I always double-check both sites before buying toys for my kids.

Amazon vs. Walmart: Who Has Cheaper Medicine Prices?

Walmart for the win in this category. Buy your medicines at Walmart for the best prices overall, especially when taking advantage of their $4 generic prescriptions. But, if you have an HSA (Healthcare Savings Account) through your work, you can use those benefits to shop for medicine on Amazon.

Amazon vs. Walmart: Who Has Cheaper Personal Care Products?

Walmart wins by a very slight margin over Amazon when it comes to personal care products. But, you should buy St. Ives facial scrub, men’s razors, and Chapstick bundles from Amazon because the savings are significant.

Amazon vs. Walmart: Who Has Cheaper Food Prices?

All of these food items came through Amazon Pantry. And based off the below data, it’s looking like the Walmart and Amazon Pantry elves are once again trying to price-match each other. With the exception of two outliers, prices for food and pantry items were identical or near identical. The surprises were Pop Tarts, which you should most definitely buy on Amazon; and Cheez-Its, which you should buy from Walmart.

While the pricing is near identical for this category, don’t forget about the shipping and shopping/delivery method: Amazon Pantry is either a $5.99 flat shipping fee per order or free for Prime members on orders over $35. Walmart, on the other hand, has a $7.95 to $9.95 grocery delivery fee. In-store purchases and grocery pickup through Walmart have no additional fees, but grocery pickup requires a $30 minimum.

So, whether you order pantry food from Walmart or Amazon really comes down to what mode of shopping is most convenient for you.

Amazon vs. Walmart: Who Has Better Makeup Prices?

Cosmetic and makeup from Amazon proved to be cheaper than Walmart’s makeup selection most of the time. The only problem? Many of these items are through Amazon Pantry, so you’ll need to spend more than $35 per order to really save.